


all we do is drive (all we do is think about the feelings that we hide)

by movingforthesakeofmotion



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Oneshot, enjoy? lmao, i'm on a writing binge i'm sorry, this is angsty but also super fluffy toward the end so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 09:37:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11205327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/movingforthesakeofmotion/pseuds/movingforthesakeofmotion
Summary: Rita's attack left mental scars on Trini that she's still trying to get over. But when every single goddamn thing sets her off, it isn't long before Trini can feel herself starting to spiral out of control.Luckily, Kimberly's there to pick up the pieces.AKA, Trini's having a hard time getting over Rita's attack, and Kimberly's there to save the day, just not in a superhero way.





	all we do is drive (all we do is think about the feelings that we hide)

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from "Drive" by Halsey.
> 
> i'm on a writing binge, so don't worry, there will be another chapter of that diana/trini fic, but in the meantime have some angsty/fluffy trimberly!
> 
> comments are appreciated!

She watches the red liquid pool at the tip of her fingertips, forming into a small ball right at the point of her middle finger before falling, splashing to the ground and staining the white tiled bathroom floor of Angel Grove High School with a stark contrast of dark red.

She sees another splash of blood fall, this time from her nose, and her right hand is rising, still shaking with unvented fury as she wipes the blood away and feels it only get replaced with more blood, the flow that floods from her nose making her head spin as the metallic taste invades her mouth, her taste buds, choking her-

“Trini...”

Her voice is soft, echoing slightly in the white tiled girl’s bathroom that kind of makes Trini feel like she’s in a mental asylum, and maybe that’s where she should be, padded walls and a straitjacket tied around her body to keep her from harming anyone...

Too late now.

“Trini, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m aware.” 

“Let me help you.”

“Go to class, Kimberly.” 

Her sigh echoes in the room again as she crouches down, and soft, kind brown eyes are all she sees as Kimberly raises a hand, a tissue clutched between her fingers as she grips Trini’s chin with her other hand before gently swiping her upper lip with the tissue. When she pulls it back, there’s a large dot of blood staining the tissue, and Trini looks down at it before looking back up at Kimberly, who smiles at her softly.

“You didn’t need to do that.” She whispers.

Trini’s teeth clutch her bottom lip, wincing slightly as her teeth scratch against her cut lip for half a second before she shrugs.

“Probably not.” She mutters.

Truth is, Trini’s been waiting to get her hands on someone ever since they all saved the Universe from Rita Repulsa and her quest to get the Zeo Crystal and take over the world. Trini’s been desperate to fight back, to prove that Rita’s win over her was a fluke, that there’s no way on this goddamn green Earth that anyone, alien or human, could ever dominate her as easily as Rita Repulsa did that night in her bedroom.

It’s never happening again.

“Ty is five times your size. Maybe even six. What made you think you could take him?” Kimberly says, chuckling slightly in disbelief.

“I’m a Power Ranger. Also, I kicked his ass.”

“You broke his arm and beat him to a pulp.”

“I did. And all he gave me was a bloody nose. I totally win.” Kimberly shakes her head, and then she’s wiping more blood from Trini’s face, her fingers cold against Trini’s neck, still warm and slightly sweaty from all the excitement that occurred ten minutes ago.

“You think he’ll tell whoever found him it was me?” Kimberly scoffs.

“Are you kidding me? Ty Fleming admit that a girl beat him up? Not only a girl, but a girl who’s about a whole foot and a half shorter than him? Yeah, there’s no way he’s saying anything. You’re safe.” 

Trini’s tempted to tell her that she’s not safe, that none of them are, that Rita Repulsa almost killed her and that she’s spent every waking moment since that night feeling more unsafe than she’s ever felt in her life. 

Instead she nods once and drops her head back down, sighing as she feels the blood rush down from her nose once again, more drops splashing onto the tiled floor.

Truth is, the whole day, she’s been a ticking time bomb. Maybe more than a day. It’s Friday now and truthfully, she’s been buzzing with contained anger and energy since about Rita attacked her. They have won the battle against her, but Trini can’t forget it.

She can’t forget Rita’s hands around her throat, can’t forget the smell of her putrid breath, or the way she had leaned in and whispered to Trini that the other Rangers were not her friends, that they barely even knew her name...

_“They’re not your friends! Come with me. We can be friends...”_

The feeling of Rita’s tongue sliding across her skin had left Trini feeling helpless and beyond terrified and she hated it. 

For four weeks she’s had this anger building inside her, so naturally, when her and Kimberly are half jogging, half speed walking down the hallway to Biology because they’re already late and Ty Fleming coughs under his breath and hisses the word ‘slut’ when they pass, Kimberly rolls her eyes, but Trini balls her hand into a fist and turns before striking him in the face, repeatedly.

And then he mashes his gigantic hand against her face and she falls back, and then he’s swinging his arm to strike her again and she’s grabbing his arm and squeezing as she twists it round, and then there’s a sound like a gunshot going off and Kimberly’s dragging her away, running with her down the hallway and into the bathroom.

“You know, him calling me a slut, it’s not a big deal, and he does it all the time-.”

“Yeah, and this time, I heard him say it, so I kicked his ass.” Trini says, and Kimberly’s lifting her head back up and gripping her chin again as she wipes the blood away from her nose.

“You shouldn’t have done it, Trini. If someone finds out-.”

“You just said there’s no way he’s gonna say anything.”

“Yeah well, sometimes Ty can be smart. He might decide that you getting expelled would be better revenge than him suffering a bit of teasing from getting his ass kicked by a girl.”

“You dated him for almost a year, you seriously think he’d do that?” 

“Trini, that’s not the point. The point is you shouldn’t have-.”

“Done it. But I did. It’s over. Now can you help me get my nose to stop bleeding so I can go to class?” 

She doesn’t mean for her tone to be so harsh, doesn’t mean to be so short tempered and angry, but there’s still fury boiling through her blood, still sweat on her forehead that just keeps building no matter how much times passes since her fist collided with Ty’s face, and she feels like she can’t breathe.

She needs to get out of here.

“Trini-.”

She takes the tissue Kimberly’s holding out of her hands and sticks it up her nose before standing and walking to the sink. She turns the tap on, shoves her hand under the cold water, lets out a small whimper when the water runs over the broken skin on her knuckles, bruised and swollen flesh already forming as it throbs painfully and she really wishes her Ranger healing applied to small injuries as well as big ones. 

“Trini-.”

“Kimberly, it’s done, alright? Let’s just go to class, okay?”

Kimberly sighs, nods once and grabs her bag from the ground before letting Trini lead the way to Biology.

Of course, Mrs. Steinhardt glares at them as soon as they enter, but Trini decides to pull the tissue out of her nose before entering the classroom and holds it up to her, telling her that her nose started bleeding randomly out of nowhere and that Kimberly had been helping her. Mrs. Steinhardt frowns, nods once, and then Kimberly takes her usual seat in the middle of the class while Trini sits at the back.

She really hates assigned seating sometimes, but this time, Trini’s grateful.

She’d rather not endure Kimberly’s sighs and frowns up close, it’s much better observing it from the back row as Kimberly throws glances at her every once in a while.

Trini contains her anger by pinching a spot on her leg repeatedly, tells herself that Ty is probably not gonna say anything, and is breathing a sigh of relief when she enters the cafeteria at lunch and finds Ty nowhere to be seen, but the rumor mill is already spinning wildly.

Ty Fleming got his ass beat and refuses to say who did it.

“Do you think it was Jason Scott?”

“Why? He’s not even friends with Ty, man.”

“Yeah, but he’s hanging around Kimberly Hart a lot lately, maybe Ty got jealous-.”

“Maybe Kimberly did it, she’s already kicked his ass once before.”

Trini barges her way through the group of people, ignores Kimberly’s attempts to stop her and sits at her usual table, ignores Kimberly again when she sighs and sits beside her and waits as Jason and Billy walk over.

“Everything okay?” Jason asks.

“Peachy.” Trini hisses out. Before Jason can say anything, Zack finally joins them, a frown on his face as he sits down beside Trini. 

“What happened to your face?” 

“It saw you.” Zack laughs and shakes his head.

“Seriously, crazy girl, your lip is cut and your nose looks a little bruised, who roughed you up?”

“Your hand is hurt, too.” Billy says quietly. Trini stays quiet, and then Jason groans behind her.

“You kicked Ty’s ass, didn’t you?” He says, sighing.

“He called Kimberly a slut.” Zack is laughing loudly, Billy is looking at her in shock, and Jason has his disappointed dad face on and Kimberly is watching Trini with a frown, so she sighs and grabs her bag, shouldering it before standing.

“Stop or I’m leaving.”

“Alright, alright! Sorry.” Jason grabs her hand to stop her, and she sits back down and takes a bite from her sandwich, almost breaking her jaw with the force she clamps down onto the bread with.

The rest of the day passes on with Trini barely paying attention, and as soon as school ends and they’re at training in the Pit, Trini blasts her way through about fifty hologram putties before she feels her whole body begin shaking as her head spins. She calls for a time out, collapses onto shaking knees, and Jason calls it a day.

Kimberly passes her a bottle of a water, doesn’t leave her side until she drinks the entire thing, and Trini ends up rushing home as fast as she can, needing a bathroom and cursing Kimberly quietly under her breath when she gets home.

She enters her room, ignores her mother’s glare and her father’s sigh, slams her door shut and collapses onto her bed.

She desperately attempts to ignore the hole in her wall from Rita’s attack, realizes it’s not working when her eyes seem to keep moving back to it no matter how hard she tries, and ends up curling onto her side and wrapping her arms around her knees, trying her best to breathe as the panic that rises inside her clutches her chest and makes small beads of sweat form all over her body despite the chilly air coming in through her window.

When her mother calls her down for dinner, Trini ignores her and curls up under her blanket, her appetite long gone as the only thing that invades her mind is the feeling of Rita’s golden nails scratching down her body, ripping the skin at her neck to shreds, the feeling of her tongue on Trini’s jaw, licking her, invading her personal space-

_“I don’t want to kill her just yet...I want to play with her a little longer...”_

She’s crying, her whole body shaking with pain and the memory of being thrown around like a piñata and she can feel her armor beginning to crack.

She knows she can’t keep this up. She knows she needs to talk to someone, anyone...

But Trini’s always had this façade of being the strong one. She has no idea how to break her walls down, to open up to someone, to tell them how she feels.

It’s not something in her vocabulary, not something she does.

So she bites down on her lip, teeth digging into the cut on her lip and reveling in the pain of it because it at least takes her mind of the feeling of Rita’s body pressed against hers and the complete lack of helplessness she felt as Rita laughed in her face at how weak she truly was.

Her mother doesn’t call her down again like she usually does, instead she cracks Trini’s door open and she instantly pretends to be asleep, and when her mother closes the light and shuts the door again, Trini lets a sigh of relief.

Her whole body is exhausted from training and from repressing the shudders and sobs that threaten to take her over, and she’s falling asleep in no time.

She dreams of water splashing her face, dreams of a body hovering over hers, cold green eyes staring into her soul, feels cold hands grip her neck and when she wakes up in the middle of the night, whimpering and choking back screams, she doesn’t go back to sleep.

When the morning rolls around, Trini rolls out of bed, eyes puffy from crying all night and her body trembling, she throws on a jumper and shorts and heads downstairs, grabs a bowl of cereal and chews on it, not really tasting much of it at all, and is about to head back upstairs to her room when her parents walk down, both of them watching her with a frown.

“What happened to your face?” Her father asks. Trini shrugs.

“Fell.”

“Trini, are you having troubles with bullies at school again?” Her mother says, gripping her chin and looking at her injuries, and Trini slaps her hand away with a scowl.

“I told you I fell.” 

“Trini-.”

“I’m gonna be late for school. My friend’s picking me up.” She mumbles, and she ignores her mother when she asks her what friend and instead shuts herself in her room and finishes her breakfast. 

When Kimberly toots her horn to let Trini know she’s outside, Trini grabs her bag and climbs out of the window to avoid her mother, dropping down from the ledge and landing on her feet before she straightens herself up and walks toward Kimberly’s car. 

“Are front doors no longer a thing?” Kimberly teases as she jumps into the car, and Trini rolls her eyes.

“Mom’s on my ass again. Let’s just go.” 

They drive to the school in silence, Trini avoiding Kimberly’s gaze and looking out of the window as Kimberly hums along softly to some song playing from the radio.

This is how every car ride between them goes, Trini sitting in uncomfortable silence and trying her best not to think about Kimberly’s hand gripping the gear shift, or how she so desperately wants to reach out and place her hand on top of Kimberly’s, to leave it there with a smile and have Kimberly look at her with a wide grin before leaning in and kissing her-

Trini grumbles, and Kimberly looks at her.

“Everything okay?” Trini simply nods, still doesn’t look at Kimberly, but she hears her sigh.

This crush is seriously getting out of hand...

Trini’s simply struggling to stay awake, and when they get to the school, Kimberly has to lean over and shake her lightly to get her to move.

“Hmm?” Trini looks at her, and Kimberly stares at her with a frown.

“Are you alright?” She asks softly. Trini nods once and rubs her eyes before opening the door.

“Just didn’t get a lot of sleep.” She mumbles, grabbing her bag and closing the door behind her.

Kimberly follows her into the hallway of the school, where Jason, Zack and Billy are waiting for them by Trini and Kimberly’s now shared locker.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Trini opens her locker and Kimberly grabs her books first while Zack chuckles and leans against the locker beside Trini’s with his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk on his face.

“I can’t believe you two are still sharing a locker.”

Trini shrugs, remembering how she’d come across Kimberly at her locker a few weeks ago to find someone had spray painted horrible messages telling Kimberly to kill herself onto her locker, and without hesitation she’d ripped the locker door and thrown it into a classroom, telling Kimberly she didn’t need a locker anyway.

“Yeah well, Principal Feige thought it would be good extra punishment on top of having detention every Saturday for destroying school property. I don’t think he realizes Kim and I are actually friends.” Trini says, and Kimberly chuckles as she shakes her head.

“Still, I’m sorry you got in trouble for helping me.” 

“I’m not.” The bell rings loudly, echoing throughout the hallway and Jason mumbles something about having to go to English, and Billy claps his hands excitedly because he has chemistry.

“And you?” Kimberly asks Zack, and he grins.

“I’ve got a spare.”

“And by spare you mean, ‘lying down on the bleachers in the football stadium and watching the clouds pass by’?” Trini says in a deadpan tone, and Zack taps her nose.

“Spot on, Trini!” 

She rolls her eyes, but lets Kimberly loop her arm around her elbow and drag her off to Biology, and when they pass Ty in the hallway, he averts his gaze, and Trini can't help but smirk.

The school day passes by quickly, the five Rangers sticking to themselves as usual, and when Kimberly throws a piece of apple at Zack and he jumps from the lunch table to grab it in his mouth, they all laugh and cheer him on, earning them a glare from Ty and the rest of the football team.

"What's their problem?" Trini says, and Kimberly shrugs as she cuts another piece of apple for Zack.

"Who cares?"

The five of them head to training after school, Jason and Trini teaming up while Billy, Kimberly and Zack work together, and Jason raises his fists as Trini steps forward.

“I hate hitting you.” He grumbles, and Trini grins.

“Why?”

“Because you’re five feet tall. I mean I know you can kick my ass, but...” Trini laughs, but raises her fists and dodges to the right as Jason throws a jab. 

Training goes well...until about the last ten minutes. 

It’s raining above ground in Angel Grove, and water starts to spit down from the top of the cave, and while the others don’t mind it, the second a drop of water lands on Trini’s head, her whole body shivers and she’s frozen, thrown back into her room with Rita’s hands wrapped around her neck and her body pressed against Trini’s as she cackles in her ear.

_“Come with me, we can be friends...”_

“Trini!”

Something hard hits her in the face and she falls, the back of her head slamming against the ground as she groans and clutches her jaw, which is throbbing underneath her cold fingers.

“Shit! Trini!” She looks up, dazed and confused as Jason Scott’s face comes into focus, his eyes wide and panicked as he crouches down and grips her shoulders.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, I thought you were gonna block it!” 

“What the hell, Jason?” Kimberly’s voice is loud, and Trini winces and clutches her head as Kimberly’s soft brown eyes hover over hers, her fingers reaching for Trini as she brushes her hair back before lifting her and propping Trini’s head onto what feels like Kimberly’s thigh.

“I thought she was gonna block it!” Jason says again, running a hand through his hair, and Trini shakes her head and grips his hand.

“S-Sorry, I got distracted-.”

“No, I’m an idiot, I shouldn’t have gone all out, that punch was hard, Trin, shit...are you okay?” 

“You never get distracted, Trini. What’s wrong?” Billy says suddenly, and she wipes away the blood that’s pooling at the corner of her mouth and sniffs.

“Nothing. I just lost focus for a second, it won’t happen again.” 

“Trini-.” But she swats Kimberly’s hand away and pushes herself up into a seated position, wincing before she stands and spits out the blood in her mouth.

“Let’s go again-.” 

She isn’t even aware the world is spinning around her until Jason catches her in his arms.

“Whoa, whoa, okay, come on.” Jason drags her over to a rock nearby and sits her down, and Trini looks up at him, blinking rapidly as his face comes in and out of focus.

“I think she’s got a concussion.” Billy says, concern etched on his face, and Zack glares at Jason.

“Nice job, dude.” He growls.

“Stop it, it’s not his fault.” Trini mumbles, and Kimberly’s handing her a bottle of water, which she takes with shaking hands. 

“What’s happened?” Zordon’s voice booms over the Pit, and Alpha 5 suddenly begins wheeling his way in.

“I’m detecting elevated heart beats and distress from all of you. Is everything okay?”

“Jason hit Trini.” Billy says.

“By accident!” Jason exclaims, and the next thing Trini knows, she’s looking into a bright orange eye as it blinks at her.

“I’m definitely detecting some head trauma. You may have a concussion, Trini.”

“Told you.” Billy mutters. Jason purses his lips and shakes his head.

“Training’s over for today. Kimberly, get her home. Stay with her tonight, make sure she’s okay.” 

Trini tries to protest, but Kimberly’s already grabbing an arm and draping it over her shoulders as she wraps her spare arm around Trini’s waist and drags her out of the Pit.

The car ride is silent again, Trini holding up the cold bottle of water to her jaw as she tries her best not to pass out, and Kimberly is gripping her hand, squeezing it every once in a while as she drives Trini back home. 

As soon as they pull up, Kimberly looks over at her with concern.

“Are you okay?” She asks.

“I’m fine. You don’t have to stay tonight-.”

“Don’t be stupid. You’ve got a concussion, Trini. I’m staying.” Kimberly says firmly, and Trini stares at her for a long time before she exits the car and makes her way to the door.

As soon as she enters, her mother is asking her where she’s been, and Trini shrugs as she makes her way up the stairs.

“Out with friends.” 

“Trini!” She stops, doesn’t make eye contact with her mother as she stands from the couch in the living room, and her mother hesitates before she sighs and sits back down.

“There’s Pizza in the kitchen.” 

“I already ate.” Trini lies, and she hears her mother sigh before she continues making her way up the stairs. As soon as she’s in her room, she opens the window and waves at Kimberly to come in, and she flashes her headlights twice before jumping out of the car.

Trini sits down on her bed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in to stop her head from spinning, and she can hear Kimberly clamber in through the window with ease.

“You alright?” Kimberly asks her, and Trini feels her bed sag as Kimberly sits down beside her and takes her hand.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Trini says, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Just get some sleep, okay? I’ll be right here.”

“I need to shower, first.” Trini says, chuckling. Kimberly bites her lip with hesitation as she grabs her bag suddenly.

“Oh yeah, um, about that...I’ve got spare clothes, but...” And Trini rolls her eyes and takes her hand.

“Come on.” Trini manages to drag Kimberly out of her room and into the hallway without getting caught, and as soon as they enter the bathroom, Trini shuts the door behind her. When she turns around, Kimberly is staring at her with a smirk, her eyebrow raised.

“Are we supposed to shower together?” She teases, and Trini feels her cheeks turn bright red, her heart pounding wildly.

“Shit. Um...”

“Turn around.” Kimberly says, chuckling, and Trini turns and faces the door, and she’s gripping and twisting her shirt into her hands as the sound of Kimberly’s clothes hitting the floor hits her ears.

Trini squeezes her eyes shut, clears her throat and drops her gaze to the ground as the water turns on, and then she hears the sound of the shower curtain closing.

Trini grips the door handle to keep herself upright, her head still spinning slightly, and she hears the shower curtain open behind her.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” Trini calls out, still not looking back at Kimberly, and she hears Kimberly chuckle.

“You know the curtain is covering me, you can turn around.”

“I’m good here, thanks.” Trini says, her voice high, and she hears Kimberly laugh before the shower curtain closes again. 

Five minutes pass of Trini staring at the door, and she eventually gets preoccupied texting Jason when he sends her a message asking her if she’s alright. She assures him she’s fine, a smile on her face at how worried Jason is about her before the shower curtain is being pulled back again, and Trini shuts her eyes again.

“There’s a towel on the rack.” Trini says, pointing to the rack beside the shower, and she can hear the sound of Kimberly drying herself off, then the sound of a bag unzipping, Kimberly grunting as she gets dressed before she finally lets out a deep sigh.

“Alright, I’m dressed.” Trini lets out a deep breath and turns, and Kimberly smiles at her as Trini sees her wearing jeans and an oversized shirt.

“Jeans aren’t comfortable to sleep in.” Trini says with a frown. Kimberly shrugs.

“I haven’t got anything else.” 

“I’ve got shorts you can borrow in my room, I’ll give them to you when I’m done.” Trini mutters, and Kimberly smiles before gripping Trini’s shoulders and turning her around until she’s no longer facing the door.

“My turn to face the door, right?” She says with a grin, and Trini rolls her eyes as Kimberly turns her back on her and looks at the door, her hands crossed behind her back. 

Trini peels her clothes off as quickly as she can, desperate to get behind the shower curtain and away from potentially prying eyes (even though she knows Kimberly would never invade her privacy like that, it could happen accidentally and Trini IS NOT prepared for that), but as soon as she steps behind the shower curtain and the water from the showerhead hits her face, Trini lets out a soft whimper and wraps her arms around herself protectively, her body shaking as she closes her eyes and wills herself not to think about Rita Repulsa’s hands around her throat...

“Trini? You okay?” Kimberly asks, and Trini lays a palm against the wall to hold herself up as the water splashes down her back.

“Y-Yeah.” She manages to get out. 

“You sure?” Trini simply grunts, and then she’s grabbing her shower gel and washing herself as quickly as possible.

She jumps out as soon as she’s done, wrapping a towel around her body, and Kimberly turns around as Trini yelps.

“I’m not dressed!” She exclaims, her whole body turning bright red as her heart pounds, and Kimberly looks at her for a heartbeat of a moment with wide eyes, her eyes roaming Trini’s body before she shakes her head and turns back around.

“Shit, sorry.” Trini throws her clothes on and runs her towel through her hair before grabbing Kimberly’s hand and poking her head out of the door.

She runs, dragging Kimberly into her room and shutting the door behind her as Kimberly laughs.

“Why are we sneaking around?”

“Because my mom will have a heart attack if she finds me with another girl in my room.” Trini says. Kimberly raises an eyebrow at her.

“Another girl?” She says, and Trini’s heart drops, and she scuffs the floor with her foot.

“I got caught making out with one of my friends a few years back, whatever.” She mumbles, and she’s waiting for Kimberly to laugh, but when she doesn’t, she looks up to see Kimberly walking toward her slowly, a sad smile on her face.

“I’m sorry. That must’ve sucked.” Trini sucks in a breath and nods.

“Yeah, she grounded me for about four months and made me stop contacting her. She thinks it was just some phase. Thinks I’ve grown out of it. She saw me with Zack one day after school when she was picking me up and she asked me if he was my ‘significant other’.” Kimberly scoffs and looks at her with a wicked grin.

“What did you say?” She asks. Trini grins.

“That he’s my significant annoyance.” Kimberly laughs loudly, and Trini chuckles before grabbing Kimberly’s hand and leading her over to her bed. They both collapse down on top of it, and Trini rubs her jaw, wincing as it pounds painfully, and Kimberly props herself up onto her elbow with one hand holding her head up as she uses the other to touch Trini’s jaw, cold fingers skimming over the bruise already forming underneath her skin. 

“Does it hurt?” She asks gently. Trini ignores the goosebumps that erupt on her skin, ignores the way her heart pounds wildly in her chest as she swallows the lump in her throat and looks up at Kimberly with a small shake of her head.

“Not really.” She croaks out. Kimberly stares at her for a long time, brown eyes filled with wonder and something else that Trini can’t put her finger on when she clears her throat and stands, making her way to her cupboard and grabbing her yellow pajama shorts.

“Here.” She throws that at Kimberly, who grabs them and stares at them with a raised eyebrow.

“Really?” She says, and Trini rolls her eyes.

“It’s that or nothing.”

Kimberly laughs before she stands and without warning, she’s unbuttoning her jeans and tugging them down, and Trini lets in a sharp intake of breath before she turns around, looking up at her door as if it’s suddenly become very interesting in the last ten seconds.

She runs her fingers over the wood that’s still splintered from Rita’s attack, and she’s staring at it for a long time before she feels a hand wrap around her wrist.

“Trin?” She turns, and Kimberly smiles at her before leaning forward and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I keep losing you. What’s going on in that mind of yours?” She whispers. 

And Trini wants to tell her.

Wants to tell her that she can’t stop flashing back to Rita’s attack, that she can’t stop feeling like she’s being watched all the time, that Rita’s words keep making her second guess her friendship with the others, that she feels like she can’t breathe every time it rains or every time water hits a part of her body because she now associates the feeling with Rita’s tongue gliding across her skin and her nails scratching down her stomach...

And god, Trini wants to tell her that she’s been dancing around for six weeks now, dancing around the way her heart skips a beat whenever Kimberly smiles at her, or the way her palms get sweaty and her cheeks flush whenever Kimberly touches her, cool fingers touching the heated skin of her body so lightly, setting her on fire even more. 

Trini wants to tell her that a school girl crush that has lasted for over a year now has developed into so much more now that she knows her, now that she sees her for the first time, sees how kind and compassionate and sensitive Kimberly Hart really is...

But instead, Trini blinks away her tears and smiles.

“Nothing. Just tired.” 

-

When Trini wakes up at midnight, shaking and trembling as a scream rises in her throat, Kimberly jumps up and looks around wildly, thinking they’re under attack before she sees Trini hugging her knees as she bites down on her forearm, her eyes squeezes shut as she rocks back and forth.

“Trini?” Kimberly reaches out to touch her, but Trini jumps the second Kimberly makes contact with her shoulder and she jerks her hand away as if she’s been burned.

“Trini, what happened?” She asks, her voice still thick with sleep, and Trini opens her eyes wide as she lets out a shaky breath.

“N-Nothing, g-go back t-to sleep.” She stutters, and Kimberly shakes her head and slowly inches closer to her. When Trini doesn’t flinch, Kimberly wraps an arm around her shoulders and rubs small circles into her arm.

“Did you have a nightmare?” She whispers. Trini closes her eyes, nods once, and Kimberly leans in and presses her forehead to the side of Trini’s head just above her ear.

“Breathe, it’s okay, shh...” She continues rubbing circles into Trini’s arm, and when Trini reaches up and grips her hand tightly, Kimberly presses a gentle kiss to her hair.

“Rita?” She asks simply. Trini whines, and Kimberly feels tears spring to her eyes.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything else. Just breathe...” Trini’s bottom lip trembles and she turns her head until their foreheads are touching, both of them almost breathing each other in as Trini grips her Kimberly’s elbow and lets out a choked sob.

“I’m so fucking tired...” She whimpers. Kimberly bites down on her bottom lip and runs a hand through Trini’s hair.

“How long have you been having these nightmares?” She asks softly. Trini whines again and shakes her head against Kimberly’s.

“Too long.” And Kimberly takes that as a sign that they’ve been happening since the attack. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kimberly asks, and Trini lets out a watery chuckle before she sniffs.

“I don’t know how to talk about it.” 

Kimberly pulls back with a sigh and cradles Trini’s face into her hands with a smile.

“You can talk to me.” Trini nods, takes a deep breath in and looks at her with tears in her eyes.

“She said some things to me.” 

“What things?” Kimberly asks. Trini bites her lip with hesitation.

“She said you guys weren’t my friends. That you guys didn’t even know my name, and that...that I could t-trust her, that she was my friend. That Zordon would betray me, and that she could protect me from him. And I’m trying, I’m trying so hard to block her out, but part of me just keeps replaying her words in my head, and I keep thinking that...that the reason I keep replaying her words in my head is because part of me believes her.” 

Kimberly listens, doesn’t interrupt, and Trini looks up at her.

“That’s why I’ve been so angry, why...why I kicked Ty’s ass, and why I’ve been smashing through Putties like it’s nothing.” 

Kimberly looks at her, and then she’s rubbing Trini’s knee and nodding.

“That explains your anger. But you’re jumpy, too. You’re getting distracted during practice and...God, Trini, you’re scared. I can see it in your eyes all the time. What else did she do?” 

And Trini really hates how Kimberly can see right through her.

She doesn’t talk for a long time, but Kimberly waits patiently, simply watching her with thoughtful eyes until Trini takes a deep breath in.

“When she threw me into the wall, she...she had her body pressed against mine, and she was scratching her nails down my stomach as she...” Trini feels bile rise in the back of her throat and she pauses before swallowing it down. 

“She licked me. Licked my face, and invaded my privacy like it was nothing. And when she asked me where the Zeo Crystal was and I told her I didn’t know, she just lifted me higher, choked me harder, said she didn’t want to kill me just yet, that she wanted to p-play with me a bit longer-.”

“Oh my god, Trini...” Kimberly is crying, her voice cracking as she holds Trini close to her body, and Trini is crying openly, sobbing as she grips Kimberly tightly, finally letting go, finally letting herself feel the pain and the anger that’s been slowly killing her for the last four weeks...

They’re quiet for a long time, Trini letting out all her tears until she’s ready to collapse from exhaustion when Kimberly pulls back and looks at her, brushing her tears away from her cheeks with her thumbs as she holds her face in her hands.

“I can’t speak for Zordon, or the others, but I can speak for myself. We didn’t know your name, but when we learned it, all we wanted to do was learn more. You roped us in, roped me in...I’ve never felt a connection like the one I have with you before, Trini. If...if you don’t consider me as your friend, then that’s okay, but I consider you my friend, Trini. I consider you my best friend. I care about you so much, okay? Rita, she has a way of manipulating people-.”

“That’s what Zordon told us about her, what if he’s wrong?” Trini says, and Kimberly watches her for a few moments before nodding.

“You’re right. Maybe Zordon is wrong...but you know you can trust me, right?” Trini nods without hesitation, and Kimberly smiles.

“Then trust me when I say that everything Rita said was wrong. We care about you, we are your friends, Trini.” Trini watches her, and then she shakes her head.

“No you’re not.” Kimberly looks at her in shock, and Trini smiles.

“You’re my family.” Kimberly smiles, lets out a sigh of relief.

“You feeling better?” She asks. Trini nods.

“A bit.” Kimberly frowns, and Trini looks at her with a split second of hesitation before she sniffs and grips Kimberly’s hands.

“Thank you.” She whispers. Kimberly watches her with thoughtful eyes filled with wonder.

“Let’s get out of here.” She says suddenly.

“What?” Trini says, confused. Kimberly grins, and then she’s jumping up and grabbing her bag and holding her hand out.

“Trust me?” Trini nods, and Kimberly takes her hand before dragging her off the bed.

Kimberly shoves her jeans back on, and Trini does the same, reaching for a pair on the floor before Kimberly takes her hand again and leads her to the window.

They’re down and out of the house in less than no time, and Kimberly leads her to her car.

“Where are we going?”

“Mini road trip.”

“Wait, what?” Kimberly laughs and shakes her head.

“Two hour drive, tops. We’ll be back before your parents wake up.” Trini hesitates, but then she’s jumping into the passenger seat and Kimberly’s driving off, her hand resting on the gear shift as it always does, and Trini is once again fighting the urge to reach down and lay her hand on top of hers. 

The two hour ride is done in almost complete silence, Trini continuously pushing down her feelings and her desire to reach out and touch Kimberly as she takes them outside of Angel Grove, and when the road fades and turns into a simple two way road with nothing but desert surrounding them, Kimberly pulls over, the sound of tires hitting small rocks echoing around them.

“Uh...is this the part where you murder me and dump my body out here?” Trini says, and Kimberly laughs.

“No, this is the part where we get out of the car and yell as loud as we can because no one’s around to hear us.” 

And Kimberly’s getting out of the car, Trini still looking at her in confusion before she does the same.

Kimberly grins at her before she opens her arms and screams, her shrill yells echoing across the sky as she looks at Trini breathlessly.

‘Try it!” She gasps out, and then she’s taking a deep breath in and screaming again.

And Trini looks at her like she’s crazy before her impulse takes over and she’s screaming with her, both of them just shouting as loud as they can to the sky, and when they face no abuse back, just the simple silence of the desert around them, Trini laughs and screams some more.

And once she starts, she can’t stop.

It doesn’t take long for her screams to become anguished, for tears to fall down her face as she collapses to her knees and cries, and Kimberly hugs her from behind and presses gentle kisses to her hair, encouraging her to keep going, to get it all out...

By the time she’s done, Trini is exhausted, her eyes tired and her body shaking, and Kimberly helps her up and leads her back to the car, sitting her down in the back seat as she leans down, brushing Trini’s tears back from her face as she smiles.

“I’m proud of you.” She whispers. Trini nods, her throat hurting terribly, but god does she feel good. 

“How are you feeling now?” Kimberly asks softly.

“So much better.” Trini croaks out, and Kimberly chuckles.

“I came here and screamed for about four hours straight after the whole Ty and Amanda incident. It helps to just get it out sometimes.” Trini nods, and she lets out an exhausted sigh and collapses against Kimberly chest, and Kimberly holds her tightly.

“Thank you.” Trini manages to get out. When Trini pulls back, she sees Kimberly looking down at her with soft eyes, and before she can even think, Kimberly’s leaning down toward her face and capturing Trini’s lips with her own.

Trini’s frozen for a heartbeat of a second, barely computing what’s happening as Kimberly suddenly pushes her back further into the backseat, hands cradling Trini’s face as she deepens the kiss, and it finally occurs to Trini to kiss her back, lips moving against Kimberly’s feverishly as she grips Kimberly’s hips and pulls her into the car, fingers digging into her skin and Trini can’t help the tears that escape the corners of her eyes and the soft moan she lets out as Kimberly’s tongue glides across her bottom lip.

Kimberly’s straddling her now and pushing her down lightly, ducking down to avoid the ceiling of the ground as the back of Trini’s head makes contact with the passenger seat on the far right and within moments, their kiss turns more heated, Trini’s fingers reaching underneath Kimberly’s shirt as her nails rake down Kimberly’s back, and Kimberly gasps against her lips before pressing a kiss to the bruise on her jaw, moving down to suck in the skin of Trini’s pulse point between her teeth and Trini bites down on her lip to stop herself from moaning. 

When Kimberly’s nails suddenly scratch down Trini’s stomach, it’s like a bucket of ice cold water has just been dumped on top of her.

She squirms and pushes against Kimberly’s shoulder, and Kimberly immediately sits up, looking down at her with a frown as Trini shakes her head.

“I’m s-sorry-.”

“Did I do something wrong?” Kimberly asks softly. Trini swallows the lump in her throat and shakes her head.

“N-No, I just...” Trini touches her stomach, and Kimberly watches her with soft eyes, rubbing circles into the back of her hand, and Trini can feel herself calming down at her touch. 

“Sorry.” Kimberly breathes. Trini smiles.

“Don’t be. I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.” Kimberly looks at her in shock, and Trini laughs softly as she sits up, Kimberly still straddling her as she rests her hands on Trini’s shoulders.

“It really wasn’t obvious?” She asks.

“Uh. No?” Kimberly says, and Trini laughs a little louder now. Kimberly shakes her head in disbelief, but then she’s touching Trini’s cheek and biting down on her lower lip with hesitation.

“I...it wasn’t a heat of the moment thing, Trin. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, too.” Trini watches her with careful eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asks, and Kimberly laughs breathlessly.

“I didn’t think you felt the same way.” 

“I do. I definitely do.” Trini says, and Kimberly grins before she bites her lip again and dammit, Trini really needs her to stop doing that-

“Can I kiss you again?” Kimberly asks, and Trini nods numbly before Kimberly leans forward and kisses her gently this time, lips soft as she tangles a hand in Trini’s hair.

When she pulls back, she kisses her nose and smiles.

“I know you’re going through some things, but Trini, I’m always gonna be here for you, okay? If you need to talk, or just cuddle, or if you even want to get the hell out of Angel Grove and just drive here for a good scream, then I’m here. Where you go, I go.” 

Trini lets out a shaky breath and nods.

“What I need right now, is for you to kiss me.” 

And Kimberly grins and happily obliges, kissing Trini as if her entire life depends on it, lips harsh and rough, but hands gentle as she nips Trini’s lower lip with her teeth, eliciting a groan from her.

“Yes ma’am.” 

-

To say the boys are shocked when Kimberly and Trini walk into detention the next day, exhausted beyond belief, but holding hands tightly, is an understatement.

Jason’s jaw drops, Zack’s eyes go wide, and Billy frowns, unsure of what’s going on until Trini rolls her eyes at them with a sigh.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah it is.” Kimberly says with a grin before leaning in and pressing a kiss to Trini’s cheek. 

Jason smiles.

“You complement each other.” 

“How did I not even see it before?” Zack says, looking at them in shock, and then Billy looks at all of them in confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“Trini and I are dating, Billy.” Kimberly says with a smile, and Billy frowns.

“I thought you already were.” He says, blinking in shock, and Trini laughs.

She really loves Billy sometimes.

Kimberly stays true to her word, listens to Trini when she talks to her intently, cuddles her when she wakes up from a nightmare drenched in sweat and choking back screams (Kimberly stays at her house every night now, sneaking in through the window at exactly eleven o’clock every night).

And when Kimberly kisses her, Trini finds herself getting lost in the feel of her lips, her mind completely at ease, and it takes time...

It takes a lot of time.

But eventually, Trini no longer jumps when Kimberly’s nails scratch down her skin, and when Kimberly’s body presses against her, she doesn’t panic and break into a cold sweat thinking of Rita. 

Kimberly takes the broken pieces of her and puts them back together effortlessly. 

And when one day, after five months of being together, Kimberly tells her she loves her as they’re driving to school, the words escaping her in a nervous, shaky breath, and Trini smiles and leans over to kiss her before looking down at Kimberly’s hand resting on the gear shift before she lays her hand on top of it. 

“I love you, too.”


End file.
